Bottle Of Poison
by silvermooncatgirl
Summary: Luna Lovegood loves Ginny Weasley, who's confused about everything until a horrible experience causes her to see everything differently. Rated M for language and Lemons.
1. Chapter 1

Pushing back a strand of dirty blonde hair, Luna Lovegood stood up from her desk, scattering Colour-Changing Ink and quills as she grabbed her bag, slung it over her shoulder and charged off.

Ginny Weasley looked after her, then rolled her eyes at her two friends, who giggled in harmony with her own laugh, then linked her arms on either side and marched out of the classroom together.

_Later_

"Lu?"  
Luna kept walking, a pale shadow in the dark.  
"Luna!"  
Luna turned her head briefly, allowing her best friend to see the glint of tears on her cheeks, then stuck two fingers up behind her and turned a corner forcefully.  
"Luna, please come here," Ginny shouted desperately, then lowered her voice as she half-sprinted around the corner to see Luna perching on a bench, head bowed.

"Aren't you worried someone will see us together?" Luna's voice shook on the last word and she turned away, sniffing furiously and scrubbing her face viciously with her sleeve.  
"No," Ginny said, hating the fact that she automatically looked around to check that nobody was following them.  
"Yeah, you are," Luna muttered.  
"I'm not, Lu," Ginny said, tentatively reaching her hand out to skim Luna's back.  
She jerked away crossly.

"Luna, please listen to me; it was all a mistake. I didn't mean _you_; I was talking about...Harry," she said, wildly plucking a name out of midair and grasping at it like a lifeboat, "It's 'cause he's been...trying to make me do stuff," she added. "And I don't want to do it. So I was telling Alex and Danni about it. And I said 'what a freak, she's such a loser' because I was talking about him, and I was calling him a girl, and - " she broke off, angry tears welling up in her eyes.  
"Look, just turn round and look at me, OK?" she burst out.

"You're still with Harry?" Luna chuckled softly.  
"Yeah," Ginny said, so startled by the change of track that she sat down heavily on the stone bench and blinked at the girl sitting beside her.  
"Never thought that'd last," Luna said throatily, swallowing back the tears that were now drying on her face. "I mean, no offence; I'm certain he's nice and everything but have you seen him? God, Gin - Ginny," she said quickly, as Ginny's face lit up, "He looks like an absolute twat, to be fair."

Ginny shook her head, half laughing. "I know," she admitted.

"Are we even going to talk about what happened at Lavender's party?" Luna said suddenly.  
She turned round to face the girl sitting very close beside her and slid one hand a little further along the bench, but turning her head to make it seem innocent.

"I...Luna...I don't... I don't really know," Ginny confessed, blushing furiously and looking down at her knees, which were pressed together tightly.

"Relax," Luna sighed, moving both of her hands to her own knees. Ginny did relax, slightly, her shoulders slumped and she leaned her forehead against the wall. She drew back, wincing, then giggled. "It's cold," she noted, and then continued giggling.

Her laugh was infectious; a bubbling rush of medium-pitch that soared out of her mouth and echoed around the silent halls. Luna stifled her own laughter; it was hard not to laugh when Ginny was; and stood up.

"I guess we're not going to talk about it, then," she said darkly.

"Come on," Ginny protested. "It was just... you know, we'd had Firewhisky and it was all a bit of a blur and I swear Ron had put something in my drink that made me feel more... I don't know -" she giggled nervously again "-_excited_ than normal..."

"Yeah, I figured that," Luna said. She turned around and made to walk down the corridor.

"And it frightened me," Ginny blurted out suddenly, grasping Luna's elbow.

"What did?"

"Everything," Ginny sighed. "I'm not _a lesbian_, Lu."

"I never said you were," Luna said, shaking her arm from Ginny's grip and taking a few steps down the corridor.

"And you're probably not, as well," Ginny said, desperately.

"What do you mean?" Luna asked, startled. She'd known she'd liked boys and girls since she was twelve years old; it was times like this when she wished that her mother was still alive; she had attempted to tell her father in a shaky and hesitant voice, and he had listened and comforted her, but he never related to her in the same way afterwards.

"You might just have been drunk," Ginny said earnestly. "It's okay, Lu, I won't tell anyone. It's just, even if I was a lesbain, you're not..." She tailed off, looking horrified.

"Not what?" Luna asked coldly.

"Not... a Griffindor," Ginny said cleverly. "So people think it's weird that we'd hang out. So... that's why I pretend to not notice you in the corridors, and why I never really talk to you in class and stuff."

"Look, Ginny," Luna said. "I like you; I really like you, as more than a friend. No, look at me, right? Thanks. But I'm not going to do anything about it, ever again. We were drunk, like you said. So it didn't mean anything to you, fine, it meant something to me. But if you don't want anything to happen, nothing will happen."

"Thanks... Thanks, Luna," Ginny said dazedly. She stood up and walked away, shaking her head doggedly as she went.

Luna sat back down on the stone bench, watching as Ginny walked away from her.


	2. Chapter 2

Ginny lay awake that night.

The normal castle sounds seemed frightening and strange; she twitched with fear as an owl swept past her window, its claws grazing the glass.  
She closed her eyes.  
"It's fine," she murmured to herself. "She's fine. You're fine. Now go to sleep..."

Luna lay awake.

She hadn't gone back to bed; instead, she had slid out of the castle, after casting a stunning spell on Filch's cat, and made her way to the outskirts of the forest. She lay on a long mossy rock, staring up at the black sky.

Every so often she would catch sight of a star brighter than the others and would inexplicably think of Ginny; the way her hair gleamed after she had just washed it; the magazines she carried around with her just so that she would have something to talk about with the other girls; the way she looked when playing Quidditch - focused and determined and yet somehow sweet and vulnerable at the same time.

She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms tighter around herself; it was cold now.

Stifling a yawn, Ginny dressed quickly. The day was a Saturday, so she opted for a blue cardigan, grey tee-shirt, black jeans and boots instead of her uniform. She ran a brush through her hair whilst her enchanted make-up brushes set to work, and five minutes later she was fully awake and presentable.

She caught sight of Luna, stumbling through the crowds that lingered outside the great hall, and Ginny turned away.  
She ran after the figure of Hermione Granger, and smiled at her as they sat down at the table.

"Hi, Ginny, you look sleepy," Hermione noted.  
"Oh, yeah, late night," Ginny said quickly, rolling her eyes and pouring a bowl of cornflakes.  
"Ooh," Hermione giggled. Ginny shook her head, now adding milk to her bowl. She swished the cereal around with her spoon as Hermione looked eagerly at her.  
"Nothing like that, Hermione," Ginny fake-scolded, jabbing her in the arm with the other end of her spoon.  
"Hmm," Hermione said, unconvinced. "It's just... Harry looks tired this morning as well." She winked at Ginny. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," she added, patting Ginny's shoulder.

"Oh, God, Hermione, it's honestly nothing like that," Ginny protested desperately. "He probably had a nightmare or something, that'll be why he's tired... I wasn't with Harry."  
"Okay, okay," Hermione said, a little startled. "That's fine. If you say you weren't, then you weren't."  
Ginny turned away, relived, missing Hermione's second conspiratorial wink of the morning.

Luna lifted her head from her arms and looked blearily around the hall.  
Most people had finished their breakfast and were leaving; or else there were a few couples entwined together sitting on various benches. Luna noticed Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson; Hannah Abbott and Justin Finch-Fletchley; Alicia Spinett and George Weasley.  
"No girls," she noted miserably to herself, crunching the rest of her toast and getting up to leave.

She had homework, but that could wait. She had seen Ginny and Hermione Granger leave the hall together; heard them discussing where they would revise for their various exams. Down by the lake; Luna had heard.

She ran up to her dormitory; stood in front of the mirror.  
She wore a plain black dress that stopped just above her knees, and black tights, "Not right," she muttered, sticking her head in the cupboard and emerging with a red satchel, a red cardigan and a pair of navy blue boots. She slung all of these on, fluffed her hair up in desperation, managed a shaky smile and hurried downstairs.

Ginny lay on her back, eyes closed, her books spread around her in a parody of studying. Hermione lay beside her, smearing lotion on her legs, which were revealed by the bright bottle-blue skirt she was wearing.  
"I love warm weather," Ginny mumbled, and Hermione smiled.  
"Me too," she said, "You can go out showing everything you've got, and nobody cares."  
Ginny burst out laughing and sat up. "God, Hermione, you're such a slag now! You've changed."  
"Have I?" Hermione sat up too, looking startled.  
"Since you went out with my stupid brother," Ginny said. "Don't get me wrong, you're far more fun this way!"  
Hermione laughed and pushed Ginny jokingly to one side.

"Hey, Hermione!" Ron called, sauntering down towards the lake. Hermione grinned widely and stood up, smoothing her skirt down and patting her hair as Ron swept her up into a kiss.

Ginny pretended to vomit, but then saw Harry walking beside Ron.  
She shuddered inwardly at the look of lust on Harry's face - he had been begging her for weeks to sleep with him and she guessed he wouldn't stop now.

Harry flung himself down on the grass beside Ginny and cupped her face in one hand, stroking her hand with the other. He leaned in and kissed her shallowly; barely opening his lips. Ginny tilted her head back and dislodged his hand. Both hands now rested on her knees.  
"Harry..." she said warningly.  
"Come on, Ginny," he said, irritated. "For God's sake; I'm the Boy Who Lived!" He moved to whisper in her ear, his breath tickling her neck.  
"I love you so, so much," he murmured. "Please, please do this for me."  
Ginny felt herself softening. He kissed her again, his lips gentle, and she felt his tongue nudge her lips.

She hated kissing Harry like that.  
His tongue tasted strange; foreign in her mouth; she wanted to bite it or spit it out and get away.

When she didn't open her mouth, he drew his tongue back, pressed a little harder with his lips and then broke away. Ginny took a breath in; no matter how nervous she was about Harry - most of his his kisses made her melt.

"Oh, for God's sake," Ginny whispered, and her voice was ragged.  
"Is that a yes?" Harry asked, cheekily, winking at her.  
"I don't know..." Ginny said, despairingly. "I'm only fifteen, Harry."  
"So?"  
"So it's illegal, duh," she said, tapping his forehead. She drew back, looking down as she felt tears sting her eyes. She wouldn't cry, not now, not here, not in front of him.  
"I don't care," Harry whispered sultrily, kissing Ginny below her earlobe. "I'm only fifteen as well," he reminded her **(AN - I don't know whether this is true but for the purposes of this story, Harry is nearly sixteen and Ginny has just turned fifteen)**.

"Harry," Ginny began, but he cut her off with another kiss.  
"At least suck my cock," he whispered.  
Ginny cringed a little at the crude sentence. "Not sex," she muttered back.  
"Not til you're ready," Harry said, lovingly. He kissed her again; and she whispered, "Fine," in answer to his previous question.  
Harry's face lit up.

Luna hid her face in her hands and disentangled one of Fred and George's extendible ears from her hair.


	3. Chapter 3

Ginny sat on her hands.  
"Hermione, there's something I need to talk to you about."  
"What?"

Ginny contemplated, squeezing her eyes shut.  
Hermione placed a hand on her knee. "Harry? Under the sheets?" she asked, with a giggle.  
"Pretty much," she admitted.  
Hermione sighed. "If he's trying to make you do stuff you don't want to do, he's a bastard and a twat, but hey, Gin, he's a fifteen year old, horny boy."  
"I know, I know... He says we don't have to have full... sex... We can just... He mentioned... erm, oral?"  
"Oh, that's original," Hermione tutted, shaking her head. "It's nothing I've ever done, so I can't really think what you should do... Me and Ron are actually quite tame."  
"See, now I can't ask anyone," Ginny sighed. "What can I do?"

"Don't do it," was Hermione's advice.

So how had Ginny ended up in this situation? In the boy's dormitory, with a locked door.

Harry walked towards her, a little smug smile on his face.  
Now he was close up, Ginny thought, she couldn't tell what she had liked about him.  
"Hey, babes," he murmured, kissing her, and as she clung to him - kisses left her dizzy, no matter who was kissing her - she suddenly thought something ridiculous. She would have liked the body pressed to hers much better had it had long hair; a firm yet soft shape; curves.  
_Shit_, Ginny thought, but she pushed the thought from her mind as Harry's hands wandered further downwards.  
"So, Gin," he muttered, against her lips. He gently tugged at her waistband and she attempted to resist the urge to slap him away. "This..." he whispered, gesturing to her crotch, "Is it shaved?"

Ginny felt herself go bright pink. She struggled away from him.  
"I'm... I... I'm not answering that!" she mumbled.  
"I'm going to see it anyway," Harry pointed out.  
"No, you're not," she protested. "Not now, not ever if you carry on like this," she added, threatening him with a single frightened tear running down her cheek.  
"Ahh, babes, but I am," Harry said. "Come on, honey," he wheedled, pulling her back towards him.

He took one of Ginny's hands and guided it slowly down to his front, in between kisses.  
"Harry," Ginny said warningly.  
"Just touch it, okay?" Harry said, an edge of steel creeping into his voice.  
"I don't want to," Ginny protested, but he placed one of his hands over hers and moved it up and down. Ginny winced, turning away as Harry grunted and shifted about.  
"Nice," he said, grinning. He pulled her back into his arms and pushed her down onto his bed.

He lay on top of her, kissing her, his hands reaching underneath her top and squeezing her breasts, hard enough to almost hurt.  
"Get off me," Ginny said fiercely.  
Harry did so, but only to have his hands wander to cup her behind.  
"Please, please, don't," Ginny said, her voice shaking. "Harry, I'm not ready."

Harry sat up and Ginny relaxed, pulling her top back down over herself and beginning to sit up.  
"No," Harry said, pushing her back down. He sat quietly, and Ginny couldn't tell what he was doing. He was shifting about and she thought she heard plastic, but she couldn't be sure over the racing of her heart thrumming in her ears.  
Harry leaned over her again.  
He had unbuttoned his jeans and Ginny could see the tip of his penis, encased in translucent material.  
"Oh God, oh, fuck, Harry, please, don't!" Ginny frantically sat up, tried to leave, but Harry caught her legs and dragged her back.  
"Calm down, baby girl," he said, "If you do as I say I won't break your virginity... Now... Suck my cock, please."  
He lay down, his erect penis sticking upwards obscenely.  
Ginny closed her eyes.  
"No."

"Ohh, so that's how it's going to be?"  
"I said NO, Harry," Ginny quavered.  
"And I said I wouldn't enter you if you did as I said... I can amuse myself, after all," Harry said, running his hands over his penis and smiling at Ginny. He leaned upwards to kiss her, and Ginny was so frightened she didn't back away. She closed her lips tightly and closed her eyes tighter still. "I want to leave," she said, as soon as he pulled away.  
"I don't want you to," Harry moaned. "Ginny, just do it, I'm getting sick of you."

The way he said that evoked something in Ginny that she wished would just stay put.  
He was getting sick of her.  
She couldn't stand for that! She didn't deserve the Boy Who Lived, even if he was acting like a bastard and a twat, just like Hermione had said. He was her boyfriend; weren't all girls her age doing it? And more? He had been kind to her, promising not to hurt her if she just did this one simple little thing...

"Fine," she murmured dejectedly.

"Oh, good girl," Harry said.

Ginny leaned down, fighting back tears.

Her lips closed around the tip of his penis; she noted the condom he had put on was orange flavour.

"Suck it," Harry said warningly, after a moment of hesitation.

_Oh God, help me,_ Ginny thought, as she tentatively moved her lips a little lower and flicked her tongue out. She shivered as Harry gripped the back of her head. "Oh, yes," he hissed.  
Ginny moved her head forwards so that half his penis was resting in her mouth; her own saliva was mixing with the lubricant on the exterior of the condom and the taste was making her feel sick; if she could get this over and done with quickly...

Harry did that for her; she jerked back as he came; moaning and twitching and mumbling some girl's name; it wasn't Ginny's but she didn't care about that any more. She choked back sobs, spat on the floor; a mess of sticky, orange flavoured saliva that made her feel, if possible, even worse. What had she just done?

Harry was getting up now; and instead of buttoning up his jeans, he was taking them off, and his shirt too, and he was standing there, naked apart from his socks and shoes - almost comical, though Ginny didn't find it funny.

She got up and pressed her back against the door.  
"Harry, let me out," she said.  
She raised her leg and kicked out at him; reaching in her pocket for her wand.  
"Oh, baby girl," Harry said. "Your wand's in my back pocket..."


	4. Chapter 4

Luna stretched out on the damp grass, looking at the shapes of the clouds through the tree canopy.

She had finished crying a while ago; though the tears that had spilled down from her eyes had dried on her cheeks, leaving her face feeling stiff; a constant reminder of the girl she had been crying about.

Nobody could find her here, she thought.  
"Ginny," Luna whispered.

There was no denying the love she felt for the red-haired girl who was probably, right at this minute, sleeping with that leech; that bastard; that loser - Harry Potter.

"You can't, Ginny, you can't," Luna cried; and if she had been in company she would have been embarrassed for her outburst. But here nobody could hear.  
"Ginny, I love you," she breathed, and with those words came fresh new tears, and Luna rolled onto her front and sobbed into the grass.

"Luna Lovegood?"

Luna jerked upwards; she had slept for a moment.

A pretty Chinese girl was standing in front of her, looking down with concern. "I'm Cho Chang," she said. "I heard you; I was with my boyfriend but he's gone now. Are you... I mean, you're not hurt or anything, are you?"  
"No, I'm fine," Luna said, wiping her eyes fiercely. "Your boyfriend?"  
"Yes, Cedric Diggory," Cho Chang smiled. "But, hey, we don't have to talk about boyfriends if you're having trouble with them? Who's Jimmy?"  
"Jimmy...?"

Cho looked embarrassed. "I thought that's who you were talking to... Well, talking about."  
"Oh," Luna smiled shakily. "Nope, she's not called Jimmy."  
Cho's face was impassive for a moment, and then she cocked her head on one side. "You're gay?"  
"Yes," Luna snapped. "Have you got a problem with that or something?"  
"No, of course not," Cho said. "I don't even know you! I just wondered if you wanted anything."  
"Yes," Luna said. "I want Ginny Weasley and I don't want her to be fucking that speccy twat who says he's the Boy Who Lived right at this fucking minute!"

Cho blinked. "Ginny Weasley... Harry Potter's the speccy twat, right?"  
Luna nodded tearfully, wiping away the tears that had fallen down her face with her last outburst.  
"Well, he's...Does Ginny know what she's doing with him? He might look like you could knock him over with a twig, but..." Cho tailed off, half-laughing. "I don't even know you, why am I telling you this? Anyway; Harry, when he gets horny, he's a force to be reckoned with, I'm telling you. It must be all that emo shit he clutters up his head with, 'cause there's no saying no. I got to learn that the bad way," she added, and her pretty face crumpled a moment.

"I see," Luna said. "I heard them this morning talking about how they're going to sleep together; then Harry said something about oral..."  
"Oh, God," Cho said, and the crumpled look came back on her face. "Once he gets going, I'm being serious, there's no stopping him. If you're friends with Ginny, I'd honestly tell her to be careful or she'll end up severely fucked."

Luna gazed up at Cho. "Are you being serious?" she whispered, and her face went pale.  
"Yeah," Cho said miserably. "We were drunk - at a party... Lee Jordan's sixteenth, I think it was, and... well, I gave him a blow job and he... he took it too far. It's like he doesn't know what he's doing; he goes a little bit crazy. So I ended up... pregnant," she whispered the word, "because he had no condoms and he likes to shag a _lot_, and I had to go to Madam Pomfrey to get it all sorted out."

Luna stopped looking at her. She dropped her gaze to her own lap, and then turned to look back at Cho when she sat down beside her.

"I'm really sorry about you and Ginny. And Harry. I'm actually sorry for telling you all this - you're younger than me, right?"  
"Two years," Luna admitted.  
"Well, thanks for listening... When you have as many gossipy friends as I do, it's really hard to keep secrets, so I couldn't talk about it. But you listened. So thanks," she said, and she leaned in and dropped a light kiss on Luna's cheek.  
Luna blinked. "You're welcome," she said, and Cho stood up to leave.  
"I'd better get back to Cedric," she said.  
"Yeah," Luna said.

She allowed a small smile to play around her mouth for the rest of the day - someone hadn't judged her.


	5. Chapter 5

Ginny kept her eyes closed.

Harry was inside her; grunting and moaning and writhing about.

Ginny was completely still, only her chest rising and falling with forced calm breaths.

"Oh, fuck, yes," Harry hissed, arching his back and leaving Ginny's body. She felt a warm trickle of blood and fought back the urge to wipe it away.

Harry looked down at her now; his face still ecstatic.  
"How was that, huh, baby girl?" he asked, leaning forwards and planting a harsh kiss on the top of her breast; the breast he had greedily uncovered despite Ginny's weak pleas. His kiss left a mark, purple-yellow, and she bit back the need to get rid of his saliva that now dribbled down her chest.

"Now..." Harry murmured in her ear. "I know you're fine; you might have your eyes closed but I know you're fine... So I'll say this; if you tell anyone about this, I won't ever do it again. I'm a very private person, Ginny. I don't like people to know who I've been shagging. You're my first," he lied casually. "And I'll always remember you for that."

* * *

Ginny lay on her bed, tears streaming down her face in silent rivers.  
She clutched a mug of hot chocolate to her chest, and winced as she moved about - her thighs were sore and there was burning pain at her centre.  
"I'm going to kill him," she whispered fiercely, then let out a little cry of pain as she leaned over to stand her mug on the bedside table.

* * *

"Ginny! Oh, my God! Oh, Gin, you look terrible! Are you all right?" Hermione gasped, sliding an arm around Ginny's shoulders as she stumbled into the great hall.  
"No," Ginny whispered. "But can we leave it for a little while? I'll tell you everything later."  
"It was Harry wasn't it," Hermione said. It wasn't a question, it was a deadly calm, serious statement that accompanied filthy looks towards where Harry and Ron were talking animatedly about something; probably Quidditch.  
Ginny just put a finger to her lips.  
"Fine," Hermione said worriedly.

They reached the table; Ginny automatically sped up as she passed Harry - catching a snippet of conversation: "...so there she was, right, and I just went in there -"  
Ginny shuddered. She walked right to the end of the table and sat down beside a nervous-looking first year. Hermione sat down opposite her and handed her a jug of water.

With shaking hands, Ginny poured her water, then brought her wand from her pocket (she had retrieved it when running from Harry's dormitory) and whispered, "Muffliato."

Hermione was so bewildered by Ginny's strange behaviour that she didn't even blink when Ginny cast the spell that had so often made her protest loudly the importance of school rules. Instead, she leaned forwards and whispered, though she knew nobody else would hear, "Harry raped you, didn't he."

Ginny's lip trembled but she blinked back tears and nodded. "Yes."

Hermione leaned back in her chair. "Oh. My. God. I was guessing!"  
"Yeah well, you guessed right," Ginny said. She smiled wanly. "God, Hermione, I feel so stupid now. I was really weak; if I'd seen myself I would have been like 'get a grip, bitch'. I was crying and panicking and everything," she said, blushing.  
"I would have been!" Hermione gasped. She took hold of Ginny's hands. "Did he at least use protection?"  
"Yeah, he did," Ginny said.  
"Oh good," Hermione sighed. "Are you hurt?"  
"Yes," Ginny said, rolling her eyes. "It really really hurts."  
"Now?" Hermione asked, going a little pale. "You went up to his room four hours ago."

"I know," Ginny said.  
"D'you want me to take you to the Hospital Wing?"  
"Erm, no," Ginny said, "Because that way all the teachers will find out about what happened."  
"They would not," Hermione protested. "In second year when I had that Polyjuice Potion; Madam Pomfrey didn't even bat an eyelid."  
"Well, maybe I will," Ginny said.  
Hermione smiled. "I'll take you up after dinner," she said. "Now... Shall we talk about something else?"

* * *

Luna sat on the Ravenclaw table, turned away from the food and staring at the back of Hermione Granger's head, behind which she could see the shiny red hair of Ginny.  
"Who're you staring at, loser?" asked a boy sitting on the Hufflepuff table; leaning over to grin at her with his friends. She pulled her wand out and muttered a spell - the boy fell backwards from the bench and clutched his face as fur sprouted all over it.

"Miss Lovegood!" Professor Flitwick snapped, and he made her leave the hall, to the applause of the Slytherin table.


	6. Chapter 6

Ginny lay in her hospital bed, eyes closed.

She heard footsteps, and, thinking it would be Madam Pomfrey, she flicked her wand to draw the curtains, but a pale hand grasped the fabric and drew them backwards.

"Oh, hi," Ginny muttered, opening her eyes.

"Hey," Luna said weakly.

"How'd you know I was in here?"

"I asked Hermione Granger," Luna admitted, blushing slightly. "I just wanted to know that you were okay."

"Well, I'm not," Ginny said.

"I know," Luna said. "I could tell. I just... I just wanted... Oh, god... Never mind. Just feel better."

Luna turned to leave. Ginny sat up a little straighter and reached one hand out, grasping hold of Luna's arm. "Can you stay here... please? I'm lonely," she said, with a half-smile.

"Sure," Luna smiled. She sat down on the padded chair beside Ginny's bed. "So... What happened?"

"Do I have to say?" Ginny said, wrinkling her nose.  
"No," Luna said quickly, and they lapsed into silence.

Ginny closed her eyes again, murmured something.

"What?" Luna asked.

"I just said it's warm," Ginny replied. "I love it when it's warm."  
Luna grinned. "Me too. I like it when it's so warm that everyone complains that it's too hot; then in winter they complain that it's too cold."  
"Oh, yeah," Ginny laughed weakly. "Ow," she added.

Luna's pale forehead creased with worry. "Ginny -" she began, but Ginny shook her head lightly.  
"I'm fine, I'm fine," she murmured.  
"Good," Luna whispered.

Ginny's head began to nod onto her chest, her hair fanning around her pillow like a curtain of fire. "I'm going to go," Luna said, but judging from the heavy breathing and fluttering eyelids Ginny had fallen asleep.

Heart beating hard in her chest, Luna leaned hesitantly forwards, just enough to catch the scent of the girl she loved - strawberries, nail polish, something sweet like candyfloss, and the charcoal burning of the potions room.

Ginny murmured something in her sleep; and Luna bent down as quickly as possible and pressed her lips to Ginny's.

Her lips tasted better than they had at the party; they weren't tainted with firewhisky. They were soft; and Luna found it hard not to get carried away but - what was this?

"Luna, what the fuck are you doing?" Ginny muttered against her lips.

"Oh, fuck," Luna whispered, jerking backwards. "Sorry! Sorry!"

"Oh, that's okay," Ginny said. Her pretty face was screwed up in confusion. "No... really. It's okay. Luna, that didn't feel... That didn't feel weird."

Luna blinked. "Then... can I do it again?" she whispered.

Ginny half-smiled and leaned up on her elbows. "Kiss me, Luna Lovegood," she murmured.

"What a cliche," Luna giggled, and obliged.

* * *

It was ten past eleven, and Ginny was meant to be asleep. Of course, she wasn't; too much had happened.

Ginny was feeling completely better; the shock had been pushed out around the time Luna's lips had met hers.

She was gay.

The words didn't fill her with as much dread as they originally had; instead she could lie on her hospital bed and think of... what could she class Luna as now?

"My girlfriend," Ginny whispered, rolling the word around in her mouth. "My lover?" she tried. "Too serious," she murmured.  
She closed her eyes and leaned back against her pillows, remembering the sweet lilac-lavender taste of Luna's lips.

She let out a small, wistful sigh and ran her fingers through her hair. Did Luna like it, she found herself wondering. Would she prefer it darker? Shorter?  
And her face; did Luna like to see the freckles Ginny dutifully covered up with betwitched make-up every morning?  
Did she prefer it when she wore trousers or skirts; jeans or jogging bottoms?

There was so much to think about; and Ginny wanted to be perfect. Perfect, like Luna.

It had all clicked into place, in her fevered head.

She was constantly reminded of Harry by the dull ache in between her legs, but she imagined that ache being kissed away and squirmed with guilt and happiness.

What would Hermione say?  
Ginny imagined her friend being okay with it; Hermione was never judgemental.

"Luna," Ginny murmured, and she fell asleep with a smile on her lips.


End file.
